Current PSN Games Won’t Transfer to the PlayStation 4

Ah, console announcements. In the wake of what companies tell us during their press conference comes a storm of news from the follow-up interviews in the days and weeks after.

This next tidbit of PlayStation 4 news concerns the PlayStation Network games we’ve all been purchasing on the PlayStation 3.

The short form? You will not be able to transfer the games you purchased on the PlayStation 3′s PSN hub to the PlayStation 4. Those will stay on the PlayStation 3, and they will not be made available for the next generation. The news comes from Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Worldwide Studios President, in a post-show discussion with Engadget.

As for the streaming of old games through Gaikai’s tech? Yoshida said that one is more of a long-term plan than something set for launch day.

If you’re wondering whether or not we should have expected PSN games to transfer from the PlayStation 3 the to PlayStation 4, look at Nintendo’s Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. Both devices play digital shop games from their predecessors.

The PlayStation 4 won’t play PlayStation 3 games because of the radically different system architecture between generations.